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Which Android phone?

K

Khanmots

Gawd
Joined
May 12, 2007
Messages
905
I'm new to this whole smartphone thing, so I probably don't know what to ask for, so help me out :)

I'd like to choose a phone that isn't going to keep me from switching carriers in the future (i.e., I had been leaning towards GSM)... but... it seems that for smartphones that the data networks are enough different that it effectively ties you down. So unless I'm wrong on that, I guess I'm open to pretty much any carrier as I'm not in a contract.

I used to think that I wanted a physical keyboard, but I think with the advent of apps like swype, that I'll be fine without.

I see myself doing a lot of web access, email and the like. Don't see myself wanting it as a gaming platform, but who knows, I haven't had a smartphone before.

Oh, I don't have much of a problem paying for an unsubsidized phone as long as there's an unsubsidized plan to go with it...

Hm.. anything else I should be telling y'all? Thanks :)
 
If I were in your boat right now (currently a happy Moto Droid owner) I would be eyeballing these:

Droid Incredible on Verizon
Motorola Droid on Verizon (if you feel like rooting to overclock is your bag - the mod community for this phone is SICK)
HTC EVO 4G on Sprint

Android OS is a great way to go unless you're dead set on allowing Apple to have so much control, so I won't even suggest anything on American Telephone & Telegraph with the way they seem to gimp their Android offerings.
 
I'm a big fan of being in control of my hardware. So no apple for me :)

I'm curious why no mention of the N1 yet mentioning the older Motorola Droid? Not criticizing, just curious :)

Also, is 4G something that's actually going to be meaningful in the nearish future? Or is it going to be one of those things where the phone supports it you happen to pass through the 2 city blocks that have coverage and just used as a marketing ploy?
 
get quad said:
I suppose the N1 on Tmobile would be fine, although paying full price up front doesn't agree with my sensibilities nor does using Tmob ;). The plus side with N1 is you'll always be first to get new Android OS updates and 2.2 does indeed look amazing:

http://www.droid-life.com/2010/05/12/android-2-2-shows-off-amazing-benchmarks/
Click to expand...

Well, I'm fine paying upfront if there's a non-subsidized plan-price that I can get... (actually kind of prefer it... I'm averse to debt which is how I view a contracted plan which subsidizes the cost of the phone). I know tmobile has such no-contract plans ($20ish/month less than thier subsidized contract plans), don't think ATT or many others do though. Which leads me to wonder what tmobile has done to offend your delicate sensibilities. ;)
 
I'm looking to pick up a new phone soon as well (VZW, I'm up for NE2) - I've been looking at the Moto Droid and even went into the VZ store a few weeks ago and played with one a little, but I just found out about the existence of the Incredible and have been reading more about that one today. Need to find out more about the incredible - and see if my local VZW store has them in stock yet!

Anyone want to elaborate for an android noob on the differences between the Droid and Incredible? One thing I really like about the Droid over any other Andoid phones I've seen is the large physical QWERTY KB - how does the on-screen virtual keyboard compare for composing mails etc? What are the other advantages of Incredible over the older Moto Droid?
 
The incredible has a better processor and more ram. It's just a suuped up version for the most part. I think it may have a slightly better camera too.

I'm in love with my N1 since launch. The virtual kb is spot on. And in fact, with the voice input, you don't even really have to use it if you don't want to.
 
-=PESTILENCE=- said:
The incredible has a better processor and more ram. It's just a suuped up version for the most part. I think it may have a slightly better camera too.
Click to expand...

Just to clarify, this is in comparision to the N1?

nm, reread post you were in response to. You're comparing to the droid.
 
I bought the Droid 'cause I wanted a physical keyboard. I While I type slightly slower on the keyboard than the touchscreen, I also make less typos. Therefore, overall using the keyboard is faster 'cause I spend a lot less time correcting typos. The Droid has a QWERTY keyboard, but using the numbers requires pressing the ALT key.

I haven't checked out the Incredible, but I believe the Incredible has a larger screen and faster processor (1GZ v 600MHz)
 
The Droid is a decent phone, but from my experience runs far slower than my Incredible (Mom has Droid). It is built better than either the Nexus One or the Incredible, but it's also a brick..

The Incredible is a beefed up Nexus One with proper multi-touch screen hardware, more RAM, more on-board storage, bigger camera, etc, etc.. it also runs HTC's Sense UI and their custom optimizations which i think improve the overall presentation of Android.

I also prefer it because Sense is the only way to get complete native Exchange support unless you use a 3rd party app. When i say complete I mean support for enforcement of exchange security policies like password enforcement, etc..

The best thing to do is go and get your hands on each device and play with them.
 
caw2007 said:
The Droid is a decent phone, but from my experience runs far slower than my Incredible (Mom has Droid). It is built better than either the Nexus One or the Incredible, but it's also a brick..

The Incredible is a beefed up Nexus One with proper multi-touch screen hardware, more RAM, more on-board storage, bigger camera, etc, etc.. it also runs HTC's Sense UI and their custom optimizations which i think improve the overall presentation of Android.

I also prefer it because Sense is the only way to get complete native Exchange support unless you use a 3rd party app. When i say complete I mean support for enforcement of exchange security policies like password enforcement, etc..

The best thing to do is go and get your hands on each device and play with them.
Click to expand...

Good to know, Thanks.

As for getting ahold of each device, is the N1 present in tmobile stores? Or would I have to hunt up a friend/coworker with one?
 
Khanmots said:
Good to know, Thanks.

As for getting ahold of each device, is the N1 present in tmobile stores? Or would I have to hunt up a friend/coworker with one?
Click to expand...

That is a great question. I know Google's demo pretty much shows you everything, but it's not the same. I'd hunt down a friend/coworker...
 
Sorry for going slightly off-topic, but at this point I'm trying to decide the best way to procure the phone I want.

I think I really want to upgrade to the Incredible. Staying on VZW and using my NE2 discount, both Droid or Incredible will end up costing me right at $100. The problem is that I really want to get the phone no later than 5/21 so I can take it on my road-tip/vacation starting on the 22nd - I'd really like to pick it up this coming weekend closer to 5/15. But the Incredible won't be available in my area 'till 5/29 at the earliest...

So, the plan I'm hatching at the moment is to go this weekend and get the Moto Droid so I can have it to play with during vacation, then take it back in a few weeks and upgrade to the Incredible with VZ's 30-day return/exchange policy - I should only have to pay $35 re-stocking fee for the upgrade as long as I bring it back within 30 days with all the original packaging etc, right?

Anyone know of anything that could go wrong with this plan? If I tell the VZ sales person up front that I intend to upgrade within the month once the Incredibles are in stock, will they offer helpful advice for bringing the Droid back in the correct condition, or will I get some kind of violation and run into issues later on? Is it highly recommended that I not mention up front what I intend to do? Make up a reason later on to need to return the Droid? Or would it really be worth it for me to just put up with my old flip phone for a few more weeks and get the Incredible outright?

Anyone who has advice on taking advantage of VZ return/exchange policy would be appreciated. Not trying to pull a scam here or anything - just want to know the best way to go about it.
 
I'll put my thoughts in on the Droid/Verizon. Verizon's network has been rock solid for me so while it is a bit more cash than Sprint or Tmo I really can't complain with the service I'm tied to. Since you say you are leaning away from getting a phone with a keyboard I'd go for the Incredible over the N1. Like others have said the Incredible is like a N1.1, everything on it is just a tad more polished. SenseUI is also one of the best interfaces out there, it made me think long and hard about getting an Eris over the Droid based on look and feel alone but in the end I went with the better hardware.

If you do think the Droid could suit your fancy after playing around with it and you're truly [H] there's a ridiculous modding community as get quad mentioned. At first I was hesitant to mucking around in my phone but after I took the plunge there's no way I would go back. Take a look at the forum here: http://www.droidforums.net/forum/ but be careful, you could get lost there for days. Currently I've got mine running at 1GHz (comparable to Incredible and N1 tho the CPU is just slightly different) with a slew of homebrew themes and apps. The additional speed is a huge boost even when just flipping around web pages or changing apps. If you're into benchmarks you can run a quick and dirty one on most smartphones by going to www.bit.ly/brmark. Here's how my oc'd Droid stands up to competition there (default webkit browser):

Droid @ stock: 14,918
Droid @ 1GHz: 25,005
NexusOne: 23,726
iPhone 3GS (safari): 26,987

I also ran the Linpack test that get quad mentioned and got 8.165 MFLOPS, can't wait to see what she'll do with 2.2 :cool:

Other thoughts:
FWIW I do use the physical keyboard a good bit. Not a fan of the auto suggestions/substitutions that come with the on-screen keyboard and those features are disabled when using the physical but there is a huuge selection of alternate soft keyboards out there in the marketplace too.

The camera on the phone is pretty terrible, auto focus is spotty at best, indoor shots have bad colors, and there doesn't seem to be much compensation for motion blur. Does a lot better outdoors but it's still not what I would consider great.

Otherwise you are getting a quality phone with some increasingly amazing software to run on it. It will really come down to how you want to interact with your phone and what features matter the most to you (keyboard, camera, UI) so it's definitely important to check them out first hand, but I would say Android is the way to go for now as far as the OS goes. I really can't speak for the network quality of Sprint or Tmo, but I use AT&T for work (DC area) and, well..I think most user satisfaction surveys as of late can do the talking for me there. Happy hunting! This too was my first smartphone and I wondered how much I might actually use it to my advantage but it's easily become one of the most useful gadgets I've ever bought, aside from this thing anyway.
 
Moto Droid is a great phone but runs stock android. 5MP camera and 600MHz

The N1 is stock android too and has a hardware multitouch problem.

Incredible (My current phone) 8PM camera, same 1GHz Snapdragon as N1, but much newer multitouch chip that does not have any problems that the N1 does. Also has HTC Sense... 5 home screens and damn slick. Optical track pad works great.

Add Swype for your keyboard and you are set on the Incredible.
 
Rune75 said:
Moto Droid is a great phone but runs stock android. 5MP camera and 600MHz

The N1 is stock android too and has a hardware multitouch problem.

Incredible (My current phone) 8PM camera, same 1GHz Snapdragon as N1, but much newer multitouch chip that does not have any problems that the N1 does. Also has HTC Sense... 5 home screens and damn slick. Optical track pad works great.

Add Swype for your keyboard and you are set on the Incredible.
Click to expand...

Could you elaborate on the N1 multitouch issue you mention?

Also, what are your thoughts on the upcoming Evo?
 
The mt problem is that the N1 can't keep track of which finger is which. When your fingers cross axes, or get too close, the mt sensor reverses them. This is not a problem for the most common mt gestures like pinch to zoom since it's still aware how far apart your fingers are. The issue becomes a problem with applications where the individual finger positions do matter like dual onscreen analog sticks or any control scheme where you'd navigate with one finger and aim with another.

Code: 
x          F1


F2         x

To the phone becomes

Code: 
F1        x


x         F2

Even tho the first is still where your fingers are actually located.
 
Last edited:
Khanmots said:
Could you elaborate on the N1 multitouch issue you mention?

Also, what are your thoughts on the upcoming Evo?
Click to expand...

Ghostdog's answer is perfect...

The Evo phone is great. Got to ask 2 questions: Do you know you have good sprint coverage where you live? Do you live in one of the few towns that actually have 4G?

I recommend the Incredible for two reasons. It really is. And, VZW always has me covered.
 
I live smack in the middle of DFW. (North Arlington for those from around here) Sprint does have 4G all in the metroplex.

And while all carriers have pretty solid signals in the metroplex, I can have some issues near my house due to hills and such. Testing signal quality of various carriers with some friends phones is definately on my to-do list.
 
HTC Incredible using Dolphin HD = 24,524

Silent.Sin said:
I'll put my thoughts in on the Droid/Verizon. Verizon's network has been rock solid for me so while it is a bit more cash than Sprint or Tmo I really can't complain with the service I'm tied to. Since you say you are leaning away from getting a phone with a keyboard I'd go for the Incredible over the N1. Like others have said the Incredible is like a N1.1, everything on it is just a tad more polished. SenseUI is also one of the best interfaces out there, it made me think long and hard about getting an Eris over the Droid based on look and feel alone but in the end I went with the better hardware.

If you do think the Droid could suit your fancy after playing around with it and you're truly [H] there's a ridiculous modding community as get quad mentioned. At first I was hesitant to mucking around in my phone but after I took the plunge there's no way I would go back. Take a look at the forum here: http://www.droidforums.net/forum/ but be careful, you could get lost there for days. Currently I've got mine running at 1GHz (comparable to Incredible and N1 tho the CPU is just slightly different) with a slew of homebrew themes and apps. The additional speed is a huge boost even when just flipping around web pages or changing apps. If you're into benchmarks you can run a quick and dirty one on most smartphones by going to www.bit.ly/brmark. Here's how my oc'd Droid stands up to competition there (default webkit browser):

Droid @ stock: 14,918
Droid @ 1GHz: 25,005
NexusOne: 23,726
iPhone 3GS (safari): 26,987

I also ran the Linpack test that get quad mentioned and got 8.165 MFLOPS, can't wait to see what she'll do with 2.2 :cool:

Other thoughts:
FWIW I do use the physical keyboard a good bit. Not a fan of the auto suggestions/substitutions that come with the on-screen keyboard and those features are disabled when using the physical but there is a huuge selection of alternate soft keyboards out there in the marketplace too.

The camera on the phone is pretty terrible, auto focus is spotty at best, indoor shots have bad colors, and there doesn't seem to be much compensation for motion blur. Does a lot better outdoors but it's still not what I would consider great.

Otherwise you are getting a quality phone with some increasingly amazing software to run on it. It will really come down to how you want to interact with your phone and what features matter the most to you (keyboard, camera, UI) so it's definitely important to check them out first hand, but I would say Android is the way to go for now as far as the OS goes. I really can't speak for the network quality of Sprint or Tmo, but I use AT&T for work (DC area) and, well..I think most user satisfaction surveys as of late can do the talking for me there. Happy hunting! This too was my first smartphone and I wondered how much I might actually use it to my advantage but it's easily become one of the most useful gadgets I've ever bought, aside from this thing anyway.
Click to expand...
 
Something that one must take into account when looking at the Evo is that it uses a regular old TFT screen compared to the amOLED screens the incredible and N1 use.
So sad that HTC didnt really put forth all their effort when designing this phone. I am stuck with sprint so I will have to either get the EVO or the N1. An amoled screen was on the top of my wishlist for the evo, too bad it didnt happen :(
 
Rune75 said:
Add Swype for your keyboard and you are set on the Incredible.
Click to expand...

You can get Swype-style keyboards for all Android phones, they are in the market place. I'm using one on my Droid right now. Heck, I even have the HTC keyboard installed on my Droid.

Rooted Droid + 1ghz kernel + theme == best phone I've ever used. Droid's screen is also better than the N1's. Clearer and sharper. The N1's is brighter, though, but I much prefer the Droid's screen.

investinwaffles said:
Something that one must take into account when looking at the Evo is that it uses a regular old TFT screen compared to the amOLED screens the incredible and N1 use.
So sad that HTC didnt really put forth all their effort when designing this phone. I am stuck with sprint so I will have to either get the EVO or the N1. An amoled screen was on the top of my wishlist for the evo, too bad it didnt happen :(
Click to expand...

So is the Droid's, but holding a Droid next to an N1 the Droid has the better screen.
 
I'd agree with some of the more long-winded guys here - *IF* you are enough of a nerd to want to screw around with your phone an unhealthy amount, the Droid is awesome. It's pretty much completely wide open to how you want to run it, and speed-wise it keeps up when OC'd in addition to getting pretty good battery life with SetCPU profiles (60% after 12 hours off charger @ 1GHz with a handful of ~5min phone calls, fairly constant twitter/email, two Exchange accounts on push, and GPS/Wifi on).

If you'd rather just grab the phone and have it be pretty awesome out of the box, then I'd heartily recommend one of the newer phones instead. I'm loving my Droid, but it's hard to stop messing around with the phone and changing things, so this is perfect for someone like me.
 
xsoulbrothax said:
I'd agree with some of the more long-winded guys here - *IF* you are enough of a nerd to want to screw around with your phone an unhealthy amount, the Droid is awesome. It's pretty much completely wide open to how you want to run it, and speed-wise it keeps up when OC'd in addition to getting pretty good battery life with SetCPU profiles (60% after 12 hours off charger @ 1GHz with a handful of ~5min phone calls, fairly constant twitter/email, two Exchange accounts on push, and GPS/Wifi on).

If you'd rather just grab the phone and have it be pretty awesome out of the box, then I'd heartily recommend one of the newer phones instead. I'm loving my Droid, but it's hard to stop messing around with the phone and changing things, so this is perfect for someone like me.
Click to expand...

I'm definately that much of a nerd... but... I'm an embedded software engineer, so after a 9 hour day of trying to get things to work at work... I may find myself not wanting to screw with my phone too. But then again... I might. Especially if it'd get me something really nifty. :p

So I'd like a phone that I can muck around with if I decide I want to, but that I don't have to. Best of both worlds please? :D

On a slightly different note, do y'all know which of the phones have noise-cancellation features? I know the N1 does, and I think the Incredible doesn't. Anything known about the Evo? (My SIL is deaf, so having less background noise when I talk with her would be helpful)
 
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